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The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife

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The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife. Town Hall. Click to enlarge the image.The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife. Crest (author Jerbez). Click to enlarge the image.Highest area of the town and situated in the west, about 900 meters above sea level, is part of the protected area known as the Ladera de Santa Ursula, Los Organos, hills above the valley of Güímar and Monte de La Esperanza. This region of the dorsal mountain range is covered with forest with predominantly pine and laurel.

The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife. View of the Teide. Click to enlarge the image.The coastline is also classed as part of Acantilados del Sauzal y Tacoronte. Besides the beauty of its landscape, it is also a refuge for many plant species endemic to birds, especially seabirds.

Protected Landscape of Las Lagunetas includes 3 800 hectares spread over the municipalities of El Rosario, Candelaria, El Sauzal, La Matanza, La Victoria, Santa Úrsula and Tacoronte. It is a wooded mountainous landscape and great value that plays an important role in the water supply of the water table and soil conservation. It houses a pine forest zone and transition zones with thickets of laurel, as well as some endemic endangered species like the Pericalis multiflor.

The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife. in 1900. Click to enlarge the image.The town of La Victoria de Acentejo in Tenerife. Las Mercedes. Click to enlarge the image.The special nature reserve of Las Palomas extends over 584 hectares spread over the municipalities of Santa Úrsula and La Victoria. There are a few vestiges of laurel thickets in ravines north of the island, in the past, extended over a much wider fringe and mingle with the pinewood today. There are the typical species of the pine forest, copies of Mirica faya and Erica arborea and laurel.

The protected landscape of Costa de Acentejo extends over 401 hectares spread over the municipalities of El Sauzal, La Matanza, La Victoria, Santa Úrsula, Tacoronte and La Orotava. It is of extraordinary beauty with its steep cliffs and it represents a unique geomorphological element, very representative of the north coast of the islands of the archipelago. It also has great scientific interest because of the presence of endangered species and protected animal and plant world. Some areas of the cliffs are home to many species of birds that nest there.

EtymologyEtymology and toponymy
This is where the Spanish won the final battle against the Guanches December 25, 1495, after suffering a crushing defeat two years ago in La Matanza de Acentejo.

SituationSituation

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Church The Church of Our Lady of Victory (Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de La Victoria)
In 1537, a temple was built at the place where the final confrontation is produced (December 25, 1495) between the Castilian troops and the Guanches, who could not resist the advance of the conquistadores. Alonso Fernández de Lugo had sworn at the end of the battle to establish a temple in this place in honor of the Virgin of Los Angeles and the village that would then be based all around would be called later La Victoria.

The church was destroyed by fire in 1589. Its reconstruction allowed to improve and enlarged in the eighteenth century. Its current structure dates back to that time.

It is said that the centenary pine which is right next to have witnessed the rout of the Guanches and would have served as bell tower for the first Mass celebrated just after the battle.

The temple has a beautiful ceiling in Mudejar coffered decorated profusely, which is among the most beautiful of all the Canary Islands.

The current statue of Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles belongs to the Italian school of the late sixteenth century. The church also maintains a San Matías of the seventeenth century from the Iberian peninsula, a silver monstrance made ​​by Alonso Sosa (1748) and another sent Puebla de Los Angeles (Mexico) and dating from 1739, a processional cross and an interesting picture of Gaspar de Quevedo.

Visiting hours: hours of worship.

KnowledgeHistory, geography, arts, traditions, flora ...

HistoryHistory
Dawn had not yet pointed a day when we could see the two armies. And General Lugo, noting that the Guanches advanced with two corps, divided in the same way his troops. He thus kept the command of one of two and undertook the conduct of the other body Lope Hernández de la Guerra.

The action was begun immediately with a fury so memorable and as well as our Spaniards made horrible ravages among the islanders, they never gave up afterwards to admire the rare courage, despair and fury with which these undisciplined men fought in this battle. The engagement lasted five hours or, to be more precise, it lasted until Bencomo, seeing himself with a bad arm injury and including that one of Acaimo legs had been pierced by a bullet, saw the rout of his people was inevitable.

This brief and dramatic narration of Viera y Clavijo explains the origin of the name of the town: the victory over the Guanches. It was at Christmas 1495.

To celebrate the victory, a pine served steeple although this modest religious building could not withstand the weight of the bell. Soon, however, they built a temple more consistent with the facts that we wanted to commemorate. Viera told himself that this cure of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de La Victoria was founded in 1587.

La Victoria became an independent municipality in 1813 and the title of city in 1900 through the efforts of the priest Pérez Díaz, which is still remembered in this locality.

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Canaries > Tenerife > Northern coast > La Victoria de Acentejo
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